The estimates, produced by a team of almost 30 scientists, are based on an assessment of the capabilities of 139 countries to transition to 100 percent wind, water, and solar power in the next three and a bit decades.

“Our findings suggest that the benefits are so great that we should accelerate the transition to wind, water, and solar, as fast as possible,” says one of the team, Mark Delucchi from the University of California, Berkeley, “by retiring fossil-fuel systems early wherever we can.”

The Solutions Project

That’s because doing so wouldn’t just create new jobs in renewables – a net increase of more than 24 million full-time positions is anticipated – it would also make us healthier sooner, with less fossil fuel emissions polluting the atmosphere.

The team says that reduction alone could cut deaths due to air pollution by as much as 4.6 million premature fatalities annually.

But perhaps even more importantly in the long run, making the switch could lock in COP21’s goal of keeping the rise in global temperatures to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

While thousands of the world’s cities are already doing an amazing job of independently crushing their carbon emission targets, more localised and granular roadmaps could only help the world to go emissions-free.